Hotel (American TV series)

Did You Know?

• The distribution rights were originally owned by Warner Bros. Television Distribution until 2006 when CBS Paramount Network Television bought the television libraries and properties of Spelling Entertainment Inc.
• In 2003, Aaron Spelling tried to remake the show, twenty years after the original's premiere; the pilot starred Michael Jai White and Christina Vidal and was shot for UPN, which passed on the show.

Premise

The St. Gregory Hotel was run by wealthy aristocrat Victoria Cabot, played by Anne Baxter, with help from general manager Peter McDermott (James Brolin) and his team. McDermott and assistant general manager Christine Francis (Connie Sellecca) started a romantic relationship. Cabot died midway through the series, leaving McDermott her share of the hotel. After inheriting half the St. Gregory, McDermott took over operations and promoted Francis to general manager. The staff included guest relations director Mark Danning (Shea Farrell), ex-conman turned head of security Billy Griffin (Nathan Cook), reception manager Julie Gillette (Shari Belafonte), real-life married couple Dave and Megan Kendall (Michael Spound and Heidi Bohay) as a bellhop and desk clerk, and bartender Harry (Harry George Phillips). During the final season, characters Eric Lloyd (Ty Miller), Cheryl Dolan (Valerie Landsburg), and Ryan Thomas (Susan Walters) joined the cast. Brolin and Sellecca appeared in every episode. Later, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. made recurring guest appearances as an adversary of Cabot and McDermott, planting his daughter, played by Michelle Phillips, on the staff as concierge. Bette Davis starred in the pilot as hotel owner Laura Trent, with promotional materials suggesting she would be a regular, but health issues forced her exit. Anne Baxter, who played Davis’s nemesis in the 1950 film All About Eve, was brought in as Victoria Cabot, Mrs. Trent’s sister-in-law. When Davis recovered, the plan was to bring her back, but with Baxter already filling the matriarchal role, Davis’s character was kept offscreen and only mentioned. Davis outlived Baxter by four years and the series by over a year. Like Spelling’s other ABC show The Love Boat, Hotel heavily featured recognizable guest stars, but unlike that show’s comedic tone, it tackled more serious and controversial topics, including abortion, infidelity, rape, suicide, AIDS, homophobia, spousal abuse, and child molestation.

Home media

On July 21, 2009, Paramount Home Entertainment and CBS DVD released Season 1 of Arthur Hailey's Hotel on DVD in Region 1, with episodes uncut and most clocking in at over 48 minutes. On October 20, 2015, Visual Entertainment released Hotel – The Complete Collection on DVD in Region 1 as a 29-disc box set. On December 6, 2016, VEI re-released the complete series in a condensed 20-disc edition, with Seasons 1, 2, and 3 being region-free despite the box claiming Region 1 protection.